Candy Dipped Marshmallow Bunnies for Easter

Although we just got about 2 feet of snow dumped on us from all the Nor'easters the past couple of weeks it actually feels like Spring is around the corner as we have had some bright and sunny days lately.  

Plus with daylight savings back in effect, it's staying light longer which is always nice.  I hate leaving for work when it's still dark outside and getting home when it's already dark!  

Making some cute bunnies have been on the "to do" list and since we were snowed in one of the weekends it seemed like a good time to do some marshmallow dipping!

Anything in many or rainbow colors gets me every time, like these fruit flavored marshmallows I found in my local food store.

I have melting candy wafers in almost every color so I melted up a bunch and got to dipping!

Bunny ears where made ahead of time by adding some of the melted candy to a zip lock bag, snipping an end and pipping "ears" onto parchment.  Once they are hardened (only takes about 5-10 minutes) you can pick them up and add to the top of each dipped marshmallow.  Do this while the candy is still wet.  After a minute or so the ears should stand up on their own.

Use white vanilla melted candy (or white chocolate) to add to the top of each bunny around the ears.  Before it hardens add your favorite sprinkles - I used rainbow sugar sprinkles.

And because I love those popular unicorn cakes - I did similar faces for these bunnies! I just dipped a paint brush (I only use for food) into some black food gel and paint the closed eyes with lashes.  You could use an edible food writer but I find they don't work as well on candy melt coated stuff.

I was going to use cute mini heart sprinkles as bunny noses but alas did not have any so went with pastel colored non-pareil sprinkles for a button nose.  These are cuter than the heart sprinkles!

Paint on some more melted candy for the ear detail.

And don't forget the cotton tail! (more melted white candy)

Oh and check it out if you add them to cupcakes they look like little bunny ballerinas!

Cutie McCuterson!

I love when you bite inside you see the pastel color marshmallow too! 

These little bunnies are perfect Easter baskets or to welcome Spring back! 

What's on your Spring to do list??

Edible Moss Covered Cake Bites with Mini Bunnies

Spring is finally here! In the Northeast we finally have temperatures in the 70s (today 80!) with nothing but sun in the 7 day forecast.  Yay!! The warm weather feels awesome.

I needed another spring treat and I've had this idea for cake bites rolled in edible moss on my to do list since last year.  

These came together pretty quickly because I started with some whoopie pies as the cake bite mixture.  They have the perfect amount of cake to icing ratio for cake bites too.  Crush them up, roll them into balls, dip them in melted chocolate, sprinkle with "moss" and make them more woodsy with a little bunny on top. 

I love these tiny chocolate bunnies!

The edible moss is only crushed graham crackers with a little green food gel added.

Add the miniature bunny after you sprinkle with moss but before the chocolate hardens.

Not only are they super cute for Spring or Easter (if you celebrate) but they are pretty yummy too.

I keep trying to talk my kiddos into a woodland themed birthday party - unfortunately they are not really into it.  Such a bummer because I totally am and these would be perfect little additions to a woodland themed party table.  My twins do turn 10 this month (10!!!) so I do have a couple of cakes to make.  Follow along with the birthday prep on my Instagram #maxandgretaturn10 - I'll be sharing the cakes and other prep this month!

Spring Cake Bites with Edible Moss and Mini Bunnies

by Michelle Clausen April 11 - 2017

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 cups of edible moss (crushed graham crackers tinted with 2-3 drops of green food gel)
• 4 large chocolate whoopie pies (or 6 cupcakes plus 1/2 cup of vanilla frosting)
• 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips
• Bag of Russell Stover Chocolate Mini Bunnies (see link below)

Instructions

1. Crush whoopie pies until crumbly and frosting is mixed in well.  Roll into balls and refrigerate 10 minutes.
2. Melt chips in microwave safe bowl in 20 second intervals until melted.
3. Dip cake bites in chocolate tapping off excess.
4. Sprinkle with edible moss until there is a coating all over bite.
5. Top immediately with a mini bunny.
6. Let harden 15 minutes.

Prep time: 35 minutes Yield: about 18-20 cake bites

You may also like these treats with edible moss!

Terrarium Pudding Cups

Woodland Gnome Cupcakes

Rainbow Carrot Sugar Cookies

Happy April all! I've got an edible cookie craft this week for ya.  You all know my fascination with rainbow foods right?? Well I can't get enough of rainbow carrots.  I first ran into them at Trader Joes and had to buy a bunch.  I mean look how cool they look!

I made rainbow carrot cupcakes with them already so I felt the need to recreate them in some other sweet treat.  Like in cookie form.

So you get rainbow carrot shaped sugar cookies!

I used store-bought sugar cookie dough to speed up the process but tried to use all natural powders to tint the dough.  I've been on a healthy eating kick so have been trying to also avoid food gels - not totally but I do like to try to get cool vibrant colors without the added dyes.  

And I love the way these colors came out.  Carrot powder, red hibiscus powder, turmeric, and powdered freeze dried blueberries (I did add a bit of food gel to the last one because I wanted a deeper blue/purple color).  

Then just shape your carrots with the dough.  It's easy because they don't need to be perfect or all the same size.  That's what makes these multi colored carrots so fun.

I did freeze the cookies for about 15 minutes before baking as I was hoping they would hold their shape a bit more - but you can see they do flatten a bit.

But I still think they look pretty unique and carrot like - or maybe like peppers - rainbow peppers??

Melt some green candy wafers and attach some carrot "stems" aka edible Easter grass.  You can find this fun stuff in the Easter candy aisles of your favorite retail or drug store or Amazon of course!

The powders don't really add much flavor to the cookies but they do add some great natural color to the cookies.  Serve both this Easter - some rainbow carrots as a side dish and then some rainbow carrot (or pepper!) cookies for dessert!

Thanks for "hopping" by! And Happy Spring and almost Easter to those who celebrate!

Rainbow Carrot Sugar Cookies

by Michelle Clausen April 2 - 2017

Ingredients

• 1 roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough (or your favorite sugar cookie recipe)
• 1/2 cup light green melting candy wafers/melts
• Green edible grass
• Powders for tinting dough (2 teaspoons of each hibiscus powder, powdered freeze dried blueberries, turmeric, carrot) - I did use a little purple food gel to get a deeper purple color

Instructions

1. Divide cookie dough into 5 even sections
2. Kneed powder colors into cookie dough.  For deeper colors you can add 1 drop of food gel.
3. Take sections of each color and roll into carrot shapes and lay onto cookie sheet. 
4. Freeze cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until cookies are just barely starting to brown.
6. Melt green candy wafers in microwave safe bowl in 10-15 second intervals.
7. Add some candy to top of each carrot and attach some of the edible grass as stems.
8. Let harden 10 minutes.

Prep time: 60 minutes Yield: about 30 carrot cookies

   

Candy Chicks in Sugar Cookie Nests

Happy Spring peeps!

After the Christmas holiday I scooped up a box of Ferraro Collection chocolate on sale.  I've been meaning to try this brand of chocolates forever so half price was as good a reason as any.   In general I don't buy them because they are made with nuts and 2 out of 3 of mine have peanut and tree nut allergies.

But they are very tasty and I love they make a few different versions and of course I had to make something with them.  So bring on the chicks!

I thought the chocolates would make cute little spring chicks sitting in little cookie cup nests - and they do! Adding the detail to the chocolate was super simple.  Candy coated sunflower seeds are used for beak and comb and small dabs of black and white candy melts used for the eyes.

I love the way they look - the dark chocolate one's look especially no nonsense! My own version of angry birds.

And if you want to see what the chocolates look like inside (I always do) you can take a peak below. The coconut ones are my favs and they don't have any nuts in them.

Here's the official company description:

• ROCHER - tempting combination of luscious, creamy, chocolaty filling surrounding a whole hazelnut, within a delicate, crisp wafer all enveloped in milk chocolate and finely chopped hazelnuts.
• RONDOIR- fine dark chocolates are a unique combination of a creamy dark chocolate surrounding a hazelnut within a delicate, crisp wafer topped with crunchy dark chocolate morsels.
• RAFFAELLO - confections are a unique blend of select ingredients: an almond surrounded by a fine milk cream, then covered with a crisp, delicate wafer and sprinkled with tender shredded coconut.

The nests are made from store bought refrigerated cookie dough.  Add some to mini muffin pans with flaked coconut on top.  Bake until just golden.

I also toasted some coconut and added some more on top of the cookie nests after adding a generous squirt of melted chocolate on top of each one.

Then add your chicks

Sprinkle with extra toasted coconut to look like nesting material.

Pretend you didn't notice that I added the chicks the wrong way (red comb was supposed to be on top!)

Ok thats better! Combs on top again!

Now if the weather would cooperate and stay warm instead of flip flopping cold one day and warm the next.  

Although I do love the winter season - I'm very ready for Spring to stay around.

Lot's of birds in the yard today like robins and blue jays searching for worms and a couple flower buds even starting to poke through the dirt so I'm taking that as a good sign!  Happy Spring to you and have an awesomely awesome week! 

Candy Chicks in Cookie Nests

by Michelle Clausen March 28 - 2017

Ingredients

• Box of Ferrero Collection (includes Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Raffaelo, and Ferrero Rondnoir)
• Red and Yellow candy coated sunflower seeds
• 1 cup of chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips
• 1 roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 cup of sweetened coconut flakes

Instructions

1. For birds: Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and add to a freezer bag.  Snip an end and pipe small amount onto end of sunflower seeds.  Attach as nose and feather to the Ferrero candies. Pipe small eyes.  Use white chocolate chips for the Raffaelo candy.
2. For nests: Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick spray.  Add about 2 Tablespoons of cookie dough to each section, pressing down to make a nest shape.  Bake at 350 degrees until just lightly brown.  Let cool and pop out of muffin tin.
3. Add coconut to non stick pan.  Toast on medium heat until coconut is just browned.
4. Using leftover melted chocolate chips, add some melted chocolate to each nest and sprinkle toasted coconut on top.
5. Add more melted chocolate to bottom of "bird" and attach to nest.

Prep time: 45 minutes Yield: about 12-15 cookie nests

Mini Easter Basket Spring Cupcakes

Hey All! Did you know Easter is this month? I just realized that a couple days ago.  It's March 27th so earlier this year instead of in April.  So it's a good thing I started thinking about Easter treats earlier than normal this year.  

Tiny things are my favorite.  I love anything tiny or mini - you know stuff that's usually normal size.  

And tiny Easter baskets with mini decorated eggs?! Heck yes!

One of my favorite candies that comes out in the Spring is Cadbury Mini Eggs.  Yummy chocolate covered with a sugar shell.  Totally delish.  This year I found them in all white eggs.  

I knew they would be perfect to decorate like little Easter eggs using edible food writers.

I have yet to dye actual hard boiled eggs with my kids.  Is that terrible or what?? In my defense, when they were little I just couldn't deal with the mess that it made.  My kids are only 2 years apart and with a set of twins it was just too much chaos for here for awhile! We did decorate eggs with stickers, markers or we did egg hunts with filled plastic eggs in the backyard.  We just never did the dunk and dye them part.  Plus they don't like hard boiled eggs so no one would ever eat them! Now since they are 11 and almost 9, I kinda think its too late to start that tradition. 

But I usually do find an activity for them to do so I got them to help decorate these little mini eggs this year and they loved it.  They got creative decorating and it was pretty quick - not to mention no mess ;)

The baskets are made using a plastic mold that was a frozen food tray.  It was the perfect size and shape for the basket part of an Easter basket.  The handles are made from pieces of licorice.

Super cute little Easter baskets.  Add them to cupcakes or your favorite sweet treat!

Thanks for stopping by! Can't wait for the Spring weather to come back and hang around for long long while!

How to Make Mini Easter Basket Cupcakes

Makes 12-15 Cupcakes

Total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 box of cake mix
• 1 can of frosting tinted green
• 1/2 cup of melting candy wafers in various colors (for the basket)
• Licorice in rainbow colors
• Edible grass
• Cadbury mini eggs in white
• Edible food writers in various colors

Directions:

1. For baskets: melt each color in microwave safe bowl in 25 second intervals.  Stir until melted.  Spread candy along sides and bottom of mold (as in picture).  Refrigerate for 5 minutes.  Once candy is hardened pop candy out of mold. 
2. Cut lengths of licorice long enough to make a handle and reach each side of basket.  Use some leftover melted candy to attach as basket handle.  Hold in place until candy hardens. 
3. Add some edible grass to basket.
4. For eggs: decorate mini eggs with edible food writers in various designs (dots, stripes, hearts, etc)
5. Prepare cupcakes as per the box directions.
6. Pipe icing on with grass decorating tip onto cupcakes.
7. Add basket on top of each cupcake.

Mini Chocolate All Edible Easter Baskets

It *finally* feels like spring made an appearance with temperatures reaching above 70 degrees on a few days AND Easter is right around the corner.  Yay! I absolutely love this time of year too - it's just so fun to get outside again, and see all the greenery and flowers coming back.

So I had to make something.  It's just what I do.  Since I just did some spring flower cupcakes, I decided on some mini and all edible Easter baskets.

I got a Wilton 3-D cupcake candy mold awhile back.  After procrastinating forevs, I did finally use it to make some molded chocolate cupcakes (there's a little somethin' somethin' inside them too!).  That said I kinda hate using kitchen stuff (think pans and molds) for 1 trick ponies and try to re-use them for other things.  I thought the bottom of the mold would make cute little baskets.  And they did!

Fill the mold with your favorite chocolate or candy melt.  Then apply the top part of the mold (it makes the cavity - I used some rubber bands to keep top secure).  Stick the entire thing in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes.  Once the candy/chocolate is hardened, they should pop right out.  You may need to neaten the edge up a bit if the chocolate overflows.  No biggie though if it does.

Make the basket handles with more melted candy/chocolate.  I measured the opening of the basket and just made sure the handle would be the right size (side note: I used the kiddo's wood ruler - you know the good ole' wooden foot long rulers from back in the day.  Some things never change although lots of other things change everyday!).

Attach handles with - guess what?? More candy melt or chocolate - it's the best edible glue ever!

Then comes the most fun part - fill each tiny basket with lots of tiny goodies! I found edible grass, Sweetarts chicks, ducks, and bunnies, jelly beans, and the cutest Iddy Biddy Bunnies from Russell Stover.   And by iddy biddy they mean super iddy biddy.  

Fill them up!

These were a bigger hit with my 6 year old girlie girl then my 9 and 6 year old boys.  Must be too much pink.  Plus I think I passed along my love of tiny things to my daughter.  There could be worse things to pass along!

Well off to make 2 cakes for this weekend.  My twins are turning 7 and their party is this weekend.  I've been making their cakes since they were born, and of course they want very different cakes.  A pink and purple castle and The Flash.  Wish me luck - and have a very Happy Passover or Easter to those who celebrate or just a happy rest of the week in general! 

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